Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer is praising his coordinators and coaching staff for sticking to the basics during the Vols' early spring practice sessions. UT concluded its fourth of 15 spring dates Tuesday with a 2 1/2-hour workout at Haslam Field.

"John (Chavis) and David (Cutcliffe) have done a great job, a fantastic job," Fulmer said in reference to talk in the Vols camp about no-huddle offenses and the like. "We're not going to get ahead of ourselves from a scheme standpoint. We're still going to block and tackle, throw and catch.

"They have done a good job making sure we're not going to start depending on a scheme. We're going to try to be complete and we're going to keep working until we get it right."

The Vols practice again Thursday before venturing to Neyland Stadium on Saturday for the first scrimmage action of 2007. Tuesday's session served as a prelude, with half-speed scrimmage work part of the agenda.

"We had really good work today with our pre-scrimmage package," Fulmer said. "The tailbacks, I thought, ran really hard."

Fulmer reiterated his comments from the weekend about the need for a few key team members to increase their intensity.

"The only way they are going to understand is (learning) it's not a bit about talk. It's about getting out there in practice and responding the right way. Taking baby steps is about where we are right now.